The Loser Project
by kelseyhbu
Summary: AU. After agreeing to tutor her high school tormentor, Lucy and Santana strike up a deal that could rock the very foundation of McKinley High. If Lucy manages to keep Santana from failing, Santana has to turn Lucy into one of the most popular girls in school. Maybe some things are easier said than done. Nerd!Quinn.
1. Lucy Fabray Vs The World

**a/n: **I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS STORY! I'm not sure if you guys will like it very much but all I know is that I had a great time writing it. Nerd!Quinn is a very fun character to experiment with and I'm terrible at trying to sound remotely like Santana but I'm looking forward to working on channeling my inner bitch. I hope that you'll accompany me on that journey, maybe? If you do, I'm sure that we'll have a lot of fun. Does anyone even read these things? Am I talking to myself? Okay.

**warnings: **There will be a lot of pairings and buildup in this story! While I pinky promise that Quinntana will happen, it won't be for awhile. Quinn and Santana are gonna date around before they realize who their true soulmate is. I'm also going to worn you that Finn is going to be a big part in all of this since there is going to be both Finntana and Fuinn in the beginning. I know he's not a lot of people's favorites but I hope that I can make him tolerable or that you're at least willing to suffer through him for all the Quinntana lovin'. (;

**disclaimer: **I DON'T OWN GLEE! If I did, it probably would have been canceled after the first episode because I'm a teenager and, yeah, I have no idea how to write a television show! Can we get on with our lives now?

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My name is Lucy Quinn Fabray and I am a nerd.

You probably expected as much. I mean, what stories now a days that revolve around teenagers aren't about someone struggling to fit in? Either way, I hope that you find mine interesting enough. The last thing I'd want was for you not to get any pleasure from reading about my struggles. If I have to suffer, I want someone to at least get something good out of it. I don't even care if that makes any sense. I think that at fifteen, I'm beyond that point.

Before we really get the ball rolling, I figured that you might want some background information. Then again, maybe you don't. Most people don't think that I'm very interesting. I can't blame them. It's not like I've experienced much excitement in my few years of living. Let's just say that I'm not the prettiest girl around. It's not really my fault considering that I was just kind of born this way, but everyone around me seems to blame me for it. I can't help it that my nose is huge. You can't change that without surgery. I'm sorry that I'm not blonde but I don't exactly feel like going out and bleaching my hair. I wear a little makeup, but no one ever really taught me how to apply all the stuff that girls my age tend to wear. My clothes don't reveal too much of anything, but my parents are sheltering and, well, I have morals. I'd sure love to have a boyfriend but if I have to show some guy my boobs just to do it, I think I can do well enough alone. With all of these things going for me, it's safe to say that I'm pretty limited in the friend category of life.

In fact, I don't really think I have any friends. You might think I'm exaggerating but the really pathetic part is that I'm actually not. Even worse, the list of my enemies is quite a large one. Nearly the whole entire cheerleading time, the Cheerios, have me on their hit list. Don't ask why because I definitely don't know. I never did anything to a single one of them but it's pretty much been this way since the sixth grade. You might think that it's stupid for such a large group of people to hate someone purely based on how they look. Well, I think it's stupid, too. It's not like I could ever stand up to them, though. Santana Lopez would make sure that I never walked again.

Santana Lopez? I might as well explain who she is, too, but I doubt that you're not already fully aware. She's what you'd called the head bitch, the most popular girl in school. You'd think that people would actually have to like you to be that high on the social ladder but, strangely enough, that's not the case. I've never met a single person that actually likes Santana, save for Brittany, the ditzy blonde girl that follows her around like a lost puppy. That's it. I'm pretty positive that her boyfriend doesn't even enjoy her company.

She's dating Finn Hudson, by the way. I'd like to say that he's just as bad as her but then I'd just be a terrible liar. I've always had a soft spot for Finn, mainly because I have a feeling that he might just have a soft spot for me as well. For one thing, he's the only boy that ever actually looks at me with anything but disgust in his eyes. Plus, he actually makes conversation with me. Maybe he doesn't do it in public or anything but sometimes when no one he's friends with is around he'll say hello. He even texts me sometimes. Usually it's just about our homework but that still counts, right? I don't know. He's just… different.

I'm rambling like a lovesick little girl. You can't blame me, though. He's pretty dreamy for someone that can barely string together a sentence without an "um" or a "like". Sadly, our love can never be. Even if I wasn't a total loser, which I am, I don't think I could see myself having much of a future with a guy like him. If you didn't catch my rather obvious hints, he's an idiot. He's really sweet and athletic, but that doesn't make his brain any less pathetic. I know that people like Santana Lopez don't care about that kind of stuff, but I do. I want someone that I can actually have a conversation with, someone I can relate to. While I'm not naïve and know that I won't find someone like that considering my social standings, I can still hope.

I was snapped out of my musings by the late bell. While you'd think that my grade point average would beg to differ, I could barely bring myself to care. If my teacher even tried to give me sass, I was going to flip. I'm the only person in my stupid Spanish class that even tries so he should just be thankful that I even bother coming. Sighing to myself, I grabbed the last textbook I needed and started on my way.

I got there soon enough, trying to open the door as quietly as possible so I didn't attract any attention. You'd think that since I was such an outcast that no one would care but that made them notice me even more, unfortunately. Lucy Caboosey can't go anywhere without causing a scene.

"Looks like Fatass Fabray finally decided to grace us with her presence."

It was almost like she was sitting there staring at the door, waiting for me to come in. She loved every possible opportunity to make my life a living hell. I wondered if she knew that I didn't need any of her help to do that. My life had been hell since I was practically _born._

The class erupted in crackles and I nearly did the same but with tears instead. You'd think that I'd be used to these kinds of petty insults after years of torment from her but it all hurt just the same. I hoped that the teacher would be there to stop her but it looked like he was running even more late than myself. I was facing this one on my own. It was one little loser girl against a class of twenty potential enemies. The odds weren't in my favor.

"Cat got your tongue?" Santana smirked.

"I have a cat named Lord Tubbington." Brittany piped up. For a second I thought that she was just being random and wasn't planning on insulting me. That dream was shattered quickly. "Even if I wore that outfit covered in his hair, I would still look two thousand times sexier than you."

Santana barely even spared the blonde a glance. I was the unlucky one to have attracted her predatory gaze. She looked like she was going to pounce any second, tare the flesh from my bones and leave me to rot and die. She'd take pride in every second of my suffering. You think I'm over exaggerating. You don't know the half of it.

"I… I never did anything to you, Santana." I muttered, staring at the shoes on my feet and not anywhere close to her face.

"What was that?" Santana asked, all mock innocence as she got up from her seat and made her way to stand in front of me. I felt my breath hitch in my throat. She was too close for my comfort. Her being six miles away was too close for my comfort.

Feeling a particularly foolish burst of confidence, I looked up into her face and said much more firmly, "I never did anything to you, Santana."

"I think seeing your ugly face every day is just enough to get you a good punch in the mouth." Santana threatened. In those few seconds, she'd closed almost all the distance between us. We were chest to chest and, wow, I felt like I was going to pee my pants. That would just make her day, wouldn't it?

"You're all talk." I whispered. My confidence was quickly draining almost as fast as it had appeared, but I still had enough in me to not let her win so easily.

"Are you sure that you want to be the one to test that theory?" Santana hissed, her eyes blazing and her breath hitting my face.

"B-Bring it on, Lopez!" I stuttered out, the pride in what I was doing just barely overpowering my nerves. She wouldn't hit me in front of all these people, would she? Even if she did, the teacher would be here any minute. She'd get in serious trouble. Then again, she always did manage to escape all those detentions. I had a feeling that I was severely screwed no matter what I did.

Just then, the door opened. Mr. Schuster rushed in, looking flustered as he flung his briefcase onto his desk. Santana hesitated but eventually took a step back. As cliché as it sounded, our battle was over for today. Sadly, the war was still raging. It would be raging for the rest of my high school career.

"I'm sorry for running late, guys." Mr. Schuester apologized, noticing that Santana and I were still standing in the front of the room, "Is there a problem, ladies?"

After a couple seconds, Santana's hateful expression turned into an equally horrifying smirk, "Not at all, Mr. S." She crossed her arms as she turned around to walk back to her seat, "Lucy and I were just having a nice little chat, that's all."

Mr. Schuester saw my hesitance and sent me a look, "Are you sure everything's okay?"

I couldn't help but soften a little at his face. He really did care. Mr. Schuester was one of those teachers that you couldn't help but like, no matter how much you didn't want to. I didn't need to bring him into my petty drama. Plus, bringing the issue to his attention would probably only make the situation worse. Biting back what I truly wanted to tell him, I returned to my seat as well.

"Yes, sir." I said, "Everything's… perfect."

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The second the bell rang was the second I shot out of the classroom. I didn't want to catch the aftermath of what I said to Santana. You could call it a hunch but I somehow doubted that I was her favorite person right now. I wasn't my favorite, either. I couldn't believe that I did that! Instead of being proud like I was at the time, I was disappointed. I needed to learn how to hold my anger better. Santana wasn't worth my frustrations or getting bitch slapped in front of my whole Spanish class. I hoped that I wouldn't have a little outbreak like that again. Who knows what could have happened if Mr. Schuester came a few seconds later. The thought was enough to make me shiver.

"Nice going, Lucy." I mumbled as I walked down the hall. I probably should try not to talk to myself in public but when you're already the most hated person in school, I don't really think that anything can diminish your reputation. Too lost in my normal thoughts, I didn't notice Finn Hudson until I ran right into him.

His arms shot out and grabbed me by the waist, saving me from falling flat on my ass and inadvertently bring me closer to him. I couldn't help but gasp at such close proximity, especially when it was close to the boy that I reluctantly crushed on. My cheeks colored and it didn't fade, even after he let me go. Maybe it was because he was smiling at me. It wasn't a mean smile, either, like the kind Santana gave me when I messed something up. This one was so kind and welcoming. I think I melted on the spot.

"Sorry." He apologized, chuckling a little bit.

"It was totally my fault." I said, laughing, too. Everything about him was just infectious. "Thanks for catching me, though. Landing on my butt probably wouldn't have been very fun."

"No prob." He scratched the back of his head, looking like he didn' t know whether to say something else or just continue on his way to class, "Uh, by the way, I heard about what went down between you and Santana…"

I was at a loss for what to say, "Oh? Uh, well –"

"I think that what you did was really cool." Finn smiled and it almost felt like I could fly, "Don't let people walk all over you. You're better than that, Lucy."

I stuttered out some sort of reply. It might have been some combination of "thanks" and "I love you." I sure hope not.

"I'll see you around." Finn said, brushing past me and making my arm tingle. I turned around and watched him leave. It was amazing how just those few sentences could make everything seem brighter. It wasn't even the fact that they'd come from Finn. It was the fact that, for once, it was almost like someone cared.

I could really get used to that.

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**a/n: **That's all, folks! I wasn't sure whether to end it or not but it's late at night while I'm typing this and there's police sirens outside and I'm just really tired. Yeah. I'm rambling. I'M GOING TO GO TO BED NOW! Feel free to leave a review if you loved/liked/hated my story and give your input. It would really mean a lot to me. (:

ANYWAY, peace out, guys. Stay amazing and hopefully the next chapter will be up in a week or less.


	2. Deal or No Deal?

**a/n: **This chapter really sucks because I pretty much wrote it in thirty minutes. I was going to add some more but the end seemed like a good time to cut this chapter off, despite its length. Most future chapters will hopefully be a little longer than these first two since they're only setting up the scene. I really don't have anything more to say… yeah. I like zebras. I also haven't slept in 37 hours. CURSE YOU, INSOMNIA! *snore*

**warnings: **I don't think there's any for this chapter! I was going to angst a little bit but then I ended up getting Alex Day's "Good Morning Sunshine" stuck in my head and that kind of bashed that idea to pieces, yeah? *more snoring*

**disclaimer: **I DON'T OWN GLEE, OKAY? STOP YELLING AT ME! *too much snoring*

**Bold = Santana's texts**

_Italic = Quinn's texts_

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My family has always been a bit… odd.

Mother and father are what most people would call old-fashioned. If someone ever did want to have a sleepover with me or I was invited to a party, I doubt they'd let me go. I honestly don't care much since that's never going to happen, though the thought of it does aggravate me a little. They're ridiculously overprotective and I've never done anything to prove that they should be. If I really did want to go out with some friends, who were they to stop me?

Shaking my head, I lifted a spoonful of mashed potatoes to my mouth, "The food is really good, mom. Thank you."

She nodded politely in response, looking a tad bit lost in her own thoughts. I wasn't surprised. She and dad had been fighting a lot lately and she always got worked up over their little spats. Sometimes I wished that they'd just either work it out or get divorced but I've never voiced my concerns. It's their marriage and that's really not any of my business. Part of me knows that neither is ever going to happen but that doesn't make seeing my mother like this any less painful.

"How was your day, Lucy?"

I wasn't a big fan of my father, though I'd admit in a second that I did hold love for him somewhere in my heart. He's a very angry man, angry and incredibly closed-minded. Before you start getting ahead of yourself, he's never done anything to me. I couldn't ever imagine him hitting his own daughter or his wife, for that matter, but that doesn't mean he's any less horrifying. It just says that he's scary enough on his own without having to bring his fists into the matter.

"I got an A on that big geometry test, so that's good." I smiled.

"Anything else?" He asked, not exactly beaming with approval. It'd be nice to get a pat on the back every once in a while, but I guess that reward wouldn't be coming tonight. I sighed, suddenly not very hungry.

"Um… I don't think so, no."

"No trouble at all?" He asked, narrowing his eyes as if he was searching my brain for any lies that I'd told, "That one girl isn't bothering you anymore, right? The cheerleader?"

I grimaced. I didn't want to talk about what had gone on with Santana. It was better to just play dumb. "You're going to have to be more specific, dad. There are a lot of cheerleaders at my school."

"You know who I'm talking about, the Latina one."

I raised my eyebrows, trying to seem cool and collected, "Oh, you mean Santana? Her and I are getting a long just great, actually. We worked out our differences and now things are just going… swimmingly."

He looked skeptic. It's not my fault that I can't act. "Swimmingly, eh? Then how come that Spanish teacher of yours gave me a call at work today?"

I nearly groaned. Mr. Schuester was killing me here. I knew that he wanted to help but that didn't mean that him interfering was ruining my life any less. "Hmm? I wonder why. Nothing bad happened today."

"And you're sure about that?"

"Positive." I grinned, jumping when my phone vibrated inside my pocket. Someone was actually texting me? That hardly ever happened. "I bet that's Santana right now." Yeah, right. "I'm finished with my dinner. May I be excused?"

I could tell that he still wanted to discuss my school bullies but he didn't have a good enough reason to keep questioning me. Nodding reluctantly, he mumbled something along the lines of "I guess." and I hopped up from the table and raced to my room.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, interested to see who of all people would want to converse with a loser like me. The number wasn't in my contacts and my brows furrowed. I opened up the text.

**I've got a proposition for you, Fabray.**

The little voice inside my head that read the text didn't sound friendly at all. Whoever this was, I had a feeling that I wouldn't like with this little 'proposition' of theirs had in store.

Although I was almost positive that I knew whose number this was, I texted back:

_Who is this?_

The response came only a few minutes later.

**Your worst nightmare.**

I almost snorted. Did Santana honestly think that something as stupid as that would strike fear through my veins? She'd have to try a little harder than that.

_What do you want, Lopez?_

**I'm failing almost all my classes.**

I wasn't surprised at all, though I found myself bewildered as to why she'd be telling me of all people that. We weren't friends. I didn't care if she failed. In fact, I'd relish in it. At least I wouldn't have to suffer through anymore classes with her.

_Why's that my problem?_

I was interested. I couldn't deny it.

**Do you like being a loser?**

I smiled bitterly. I should have suspected as much. She'd probably just asked her boyfriend for my number so she could harass me outside of school. I considered taking her bait and fighting back but I resisted. That would only make her happier.

_It's not my favorite thing in the world._

The next text was what really surprised me.

**I can fix that.**

My lips parted and my eyes went wide. What? Was the Santana Lopez, the girl that hated me more than anyone else, really offering to help me be less of a loser? It didn't make sense. Maybe it was some kind of trap. I couldn't see how it would be, but I wouldn't put it past her. I was rightfully hesitant but nonetheless intrigued. This could go a lot of ways…

_Explain._

**I'm failing. You're a giant nerd. I'm the Queen Bee. You're… not.**

I felt like the pieces probably should have been fitting together but I stared blankly at the screen of my phone.

_And?_

**Maybe you are an idiot. What I'm saying is that we can work together, alright? You can help me not fail and I can help you not be so much of an outcast.**

It still didn't make much sense, in my opinion. The cheerleaders weren't the smartest girls around but couldn't she get one of them to at least help her a little bit? Or maybe she could just sleep with the teachers to boost her grade? I wouldn't doubt that it'd be her first time scheming something like that. It seemed right up her ally, in fact. So it came down to the question of why she'd ask me to do it, of all people.

I must have taken a long time to think because she sent me another text. The tone of it was almost… desperate.

**Come on. I need you and your brain. All you've got to do is tutor me and I'll make the rest of your high school career not totally blow. Friends, parties, boyfriends… It'll be worth it.**

It did sound nice. Even someone with intelligence could be seduced by the prospect of popularity. I'd love to actually experience one of those famous high school parties or kiss a boy and if anyone could get me that, it'd be Santana. I was stupid to trust her but I wasn't sure if I had the power to resist.

_Give me more details. I'm not saying that I've agreed; I'm just wondering._

I was lying. I'd pretty much agreed from the very first text. I'd do anything to get into Santana's good graces, as much as I hated to admit it. She had the power to change my life. I couldn't even bare to imagine it but if she really did want to, she could make my life even harder.

**You'd tutor me in Spanish, Algebra, and Biology. I'd take you to some parties, tell the cheerleading team to stop insulting you so much, give you a little makeover… It'd be fun. You could even pretend that you and I are actually friends. That'd make you happy, right?**

I worried with my bottom lip, knowing that I couldn't turn such an offer down. My whole high school career was about to be changed. I couldn't' believe that being popular was so easy but Santana was practically giving me the chance and all I had to do was teach her some equations. It wouldn't be too hard. Swallowing up my pride and excitement, I texted her back.

_Deal._

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**a/n:** Yep, not a very good one, I know. I'm not very proud of it and it'll probably be taken down after a few more chapters to be fixed up a bit. Still, feel free to leave your input if you like/love/hated anything. It's nice to know what you guys think of this. Also, thanks to the wonderful emilylima55, GleekPJOFreak, and Okayimobsessed for reviewing last chapter. That's about it, I think. So... tired...

BYE GUYS! STAY SPECTACULAR!


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